The economic effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health care sector has been as uneven as a Spokane street in the middle of winter. In hospitals, where it would seem a pandemic would deliver unprecedented job security, just the opposite has happened.

We were lost. Not dangerously lost, but definitely turned around and off-course. During the third day of a 50-mile backpack trip with my son's Scout troop, we broke camp and unknowingly started following a ridgeline that led away from our planned route.

Requests for assistance paying utility bills have essentially doubled in Spokane, according to Carol Weltz, director of community action at community service nonprofit Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners.

Despite efforts nationwide to encourage people to donate their federal stimulus checks to nonprofits, Spokane-area organizations have largely avoided such campaigns.

The reopening of Goodwill Industries of the Inland Northwest stores in Idaho is a welcome relief to the organization, says CEO Clark Brekke. With most of its operations in Washington state, however, the Spokane-based organization still faces a myriad

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Inland Northwest Aerospace Consortium remains undeterred in its work to try to lure a major aerospace manufacturer to the West Plains, INWAC chairman Mark Norton says.

As the coronavirus pandemic takes its toll on businesses, some are offering incentives to draw customers back to their industries and keep employees working.

In just four days, Spokane's employment and worker training agency WorkSource moved its entire staff of 125 workers home as coronavirus began its march across the state.